Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Don Blankenship speaks at a town hall meeting at West Virginia University on March 1, 2018 in Morgantown, West Virginia. Blankenship is the former chief executive of the Massey Energy Company where an explosion in the Upper Big Branch coal mine killed 29 men in 2010. Blankenship, a controversial candidate in central Appalachia coal country, served a one-year sentence for conspiracy to violate mine safety laws and has continued to blame the government for the accident despite investigators findings.(Photo: Spencer Platt, Getty Images)

West Virginia Senate candidate Don Blankenship took aim at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, saying the Kentucky Republican may have a conflict of interest because his wife’s father is a “wealthy China person.”

McConnell’s wife is Elaine Chao, the current secretary of Transportation, and her father is James S.C. Chao, the founder of The Foremost Group, a shipping and trading company.

In a clip first reported Wednesday by The New York Times, Blankenship, a Republican and the former CEO of Massey Energy, told a West Virginia radio show that McConnell is among a lot of senators who have the potential for a conflict of interest and “need to be more transparent.”

Asked whether McConnell is soft on China, Blankenship said, “I read in books that people think he’s soft on China and I wonder how he would be when it comes to the battle that Trump is trying to wage with China.”

He said he doesn’t have a problem with Chinese people and he has nothing against McConnell’s wife. The Times notes that Blankenship’s fiancee was born in China.

“But I have an issue when the father in law is a wealthy China person and there’s a lot of connections to some of the brass, if you will, in China,” he said. “And we just need for it to be known. There’s nothing wrong with the senator recusing himself from some votes, if he’s conflicted, like we do in the business world.”

Josh Holmes, McConnell’s former chief of staff, responded via Twitter to an excerpt of the Times story, quoting Blankenship's comments about Chao.

“This candidate is as contemptible a human being as you will find,” Holmes tweeted.

Blankenship served a one-year sentence for conspiring to violate mine health and safety standards in connection with the nation’s deadliest coal mining explosion in decades. His sentence ended in May 2017, and his period of supervised release doesn’t end until May 9, the day after the primary, according to court records.

Establishment Republicans do not want Blankenship to win the primary. A super PAC with ties to McConnell has spent nearly $745,000 on TV and digital ads to oppose him.

Further, while Blankenship is calling for transparency, he has not filed a personal financial disclosure form with the Senate Select Committee on Ethics as required by law. A spokesman for Blankenship said the campaign is working on it but could not say when it would be filed.

“I don’t personally think anybody should have to disclose private information,” Blankenship said, according to the Times.